digression

noun

di·​gres·​sion dī-ˈgre-shən 

də-

1

: the act or an instance of leaving the main subject in an extended written or verbal expression of thought : the act or an instance of digressing in a discourse or other usually organized literary work

Every place Hamilton, his parents, or his wife visited over a century's time is described at length; everyone he met merits at least a minor biographical digression.

—Willard Sterne Randall

2

archaic : a going aside

digressional

dī-ˈgresh-nəl 

də-, 

-ə-nᵊl

adjective

digressionary

dī-ˈgre-shə-ˌner-ē 

də-

adjective

Synonyms of digression

• tangent

Examples of digression in a Sentence

the professor's frequent and extended digressions are the stuff of campus legend

Recent Examples on the Web

The result is a strange, bewitching experiment in autobiography, in which there are no friendships or love affairs, just exquisite digressions on life-changing texts. — Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026

The screenplay, co written by Koguashvili, Boris Frumin and Georgi Kekelidze is thus packed with incident and, at almost two hours, perhaps has a digression or two too many. — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 16 Sep. 2026

Despite this strange digression, Besson’s script soon gets back on track when Giu gets the results of his tests back and declares war on Father Joe. — Damon Wise, Deadline, 6 Sep. 2026

But these digressions were great theatre, with Cohn as the ringmaster. — Kai Bird, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

see digress

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for digression

• accession
• aggression
• compression
• concession
• confession
• depression
• discretion
• expression
• impression
• obsession
• oppression
• possession